


If I Hadn't Met Sour, I Would've Never Known Sweet

by metaphasia



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Family Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 08:51:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12295683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metaphasia/pseuds/metaphasia
Summary: Emma had never liked to lie. It had always felt wrong in a fundamental sense, as if telling a lie was denying reality or wanting it to change. With what she now knew about magic that might very well be the case. Because of that she had always been a fairly obvious liar, especially to those who knew her well, and Henry had picked up all of her tells. Luckily though, technically, what she had said was true.The second curse is a chance to start over, to choose a new path. Emma decides to try a new way of doing things when she and Henry return from New York City.





	If I Hadn't Met Sour, I Would've Never Known Sweet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fivewhatfive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fivewhatfive/gifts).



> This story starts in episode 3x13, Witch Hunt, from approximately 8 minutes and 45 seconds in. It may be helpful to watch the beginning of that episode to figure out where exactly things go off the rails from.
> 
> Spoilers through 3x22, There's No Place Like Home.

**Regina dropped her mug on the floor of the diner, the noise echoing through the room.**

Emma took one look at Regina's rapidly paling face, and began to speak without even being sure what words were coming out of her mouth.  
"I'm a little surprised, Henry," she said, "That you don't remember her even a little bit."  
Everyone turned to face Emma with identical looks of shock and surprise on their faces, albeit in different degrees and for different reasons. Because of her superpower Emma had never liked to lie. It had always felt wrong in a fundamental sense, as if telling a lie was denying reality or wanting it to change. With what she now knew about magic that might very well be the case. Because of that she had always been a fairly obvious liar, especially to those who knew her well, and Henry had picked up all of her tells. Luckily though, technically, what she had said was true; Regina had done a very good job at erasing their memories, and giving them a new history but even still, throughout their year in New York bits and pieces of their life and history in Storybrooke had seeped through in her personality and preferences; little things, like their shared love of cinnamon, and a sense of familiarity when she first saw Hook's face in her doorway. While she would have been shocked if Henry remembered everything about his childhood, she could express surprise that nothing here felt familiar to him honestly.  
Henry's look of surprise had faded to confusion as he asked, "What do you mean? Why would I know who she is?"  
Emma managed to keep a wince off her face at his tactless phrasing. The way that Regina looked pained and physically ill at the sentence only reinforced her desire to pursue the path she had set herself on. Now she just needed to figure out what to say and a way to phrase it that would avoid outright lying.  
"After I got out of prison, we lived here for a while. Your father had family in town here, and it was near where I was found as a baby." Emma quickly made eye contact with both of her parents and then anyone else nearby, making sure that they were paying attention to the story she was telling Henry, that they wouldn't contradict anything she said.  
"I wasn't in a good place after I got out of prison, certainly wasn't ready to raise a kid by myself," she continued, picking up speed as she began to get a handle on exactly how she wanted to spin their past. "I met Regina the first day I stepped foot in Storybrooke, and, well, we got off to a bit of a rocky start, but we eventually became friends. She helped me get a job at the Sheriff's station here in town and she looked after you a lot, probably spent more time taking care of you than I did. Actually, why don't you talk to David and Mary Margaret for a minute while I talk to her in private."  
Regina's face had cycled through a dozen different emotions, most of which had been centered on shock at seeing Henry and herself back in Storybrooke. Emma squeezed her way past the rest of her family (and that was an adjustment, realizing that she had more family than just Henry, again, the second time she had had to deal with that particular epiphany), and pulled Regina into the back hallway towards the inn's suites.  
"Hey," Emma said, unsure what to follow it up with. She had no idea what to say with their history, and with how the last time they had seen each other they were certain would be the last.  
"How are - when did - how are you here?" Regina asked, her questions tripping over themselves. "When did you get back to Storybrooke? How do you remember everything?"  
"We were living in New York City, when Hook showed up at our door with a memory potion. We just got back late last night - I had to check on my parents first, I had to see if they remembered anything or if I would have to break the curse again."  
"Does," Regina started to ask, her voice breaking, "Does Henry -"  
Emma started shaking her head before Regina had a chance to finish her question. "Hook only had enough memory potion for one person, Henry doesn't remember anything. That's why I had to tell him that story that way."  
Regina collapsed against the wall and Emma wasn't even sure what she was feeling at this point. It looked like a strange combination of relief and dread.  
"Actually, there's something else I wanted to ask you," Emma began, and once again her mouth started running away from her without her input. "We spent the night here at Granny's last night, but that's not a good long term solution. It was kind of cramped at the apartment last year, and considering the whole pregnancy thing I can only imagine it will be even more so now, and I was thinking that maybe Henry and I could stay with you instead."  
And once again, Regina's face was completely transparent as to what she was actually feeling as pure hope and joy shone through.

 

\---

 

Emma rang the doorbell to Regina's house again and looked confused. Regina had left the diner to head straight back home and prep the guest room when Emma had gone to investigate the forest. She had finally picked Henry and their bags up from their room at the inn and just now made her way over to the mayor's mansion, which meant that Regina should have had plenty of time to tidy up her house (especially considering how neat she had always kept it).  
Finally, Emma gave up and just knocked on the front door. It was only then that she could see Regina through the window making her way down the grand staircase rapidly. The sight unnerved her. Regina never hurried anywhere; she always walked with deliberation, and while she sometimes moved fast, she had a way of making it clear that she operated at her own pace, never anyone else's.  
Regina opened the door and Emma could plainly see the worry written on her face.

“Henry, why don't you go into the kitchen and get a snack,” Emma said, “Uh, that is, if it's alright with you, Regina?”

Regina just nodded and stepped out of his path, gesturing towards the back where the kitchen was. “What's wrong?” the former queen asked as soon as Henry was out of earshot.

“What's wrong? I'm the one who should be asking you that, you're clearly freaking out,” Emma said.

At the reminder, Regina started, as if only just remembering how Emma knew her well enough to be able to read her emotions.

“I put sheets on the bed in the guest room, for you to stay in,” Regina began, haltingly. “And then I went across the hall to Henry's room, to make sure that everything there was fine, and that nothing had changed in the move.”

“Was anything different?” Emma asked, confused at Regina's hesitance. Everything else in Storybrooke had been exactly as they had left it, and Emma was unsure why Henry's room would be different. If it was, then it would be a good clue as to why the second curse had been enacted.

“No,” Regina said, her tone of voice imparting a deep significance to the word.

“I don't understand,” Emma said. “If nothing was different, then what's the problem?”

“Nothing is different!” Regina half shrieked, barely keeping her voice from raising in volume, then took a guilty look over her shoulder towards the kitchen, making sure that Henry didn't notice. “It looks exactly like Henry's room before. Which, if we are trying to keep Henry from noticing that he was living here until a year ago, is a big problem. The room is full of his toys and clothes, and his name is all over everything! Then I had to run around the house collecting all the photographs of Henry, and anything else with his name on it and stuffed it all in my closet.”

Emma suddenly grasped the problem and began rubbing her face, trying to think up a solution. “Okay. We just put Henry up in the guest room, and tell him that the other bedroom is off limits. Uhh, I can tell him that you had a son, but you lost him about a year ago, and his stuff is still in the room, so he needs to stay out of there to not give you any painful reminders of what you lost. Which is all technically true, which seems to be the line we're walking with this whole latest bout of insanity.”

Regina started nodding along with Emma's explanation, then frowned. “If Henry's in the guest room, then where are you going to sleep? We can't put you in his old room with that explanation, and half the reason you came here was to avoid anyone sleeping on the couch in the apartment.”

“I can sleep in your room,” Emma said. “We're both adults, we can share. I'm sure the bed is plenty big enough.”

Emma tried her best to avoid letting any of her real emotions about this plan show on her face; she and Regina had had a long and tumultuous relationship, and they had finally gotten to a place where that suggestion wasn't completely crazy.

Regina hesitated for a moment, then finally sighed and nodded her head in acquiescence.

“Alright, you head upstairs and finish prepping, make sure you didn't overlook anything. I'll go tell Henry the cover story,” Emma said. This whole looking out for Regina's feelings plan was rapidly turning into a huge headache and between all the regular insanity of life in Storybrooke, if one more thing went wrong today she was just going to lock the doors to the house and shoot anyone who showed up looking for them. Actually, that wasn't a terrible plan, considering the normal course of events in this small town.

 

\---

 

Emma tried to stop herself from tossing and turning in her efforts to find a comfortable position to sleep in. She had always been a restless sleeper, and even more restless before she fell asleep, and she didn't want to bother Regina, when the other woman had been willing to let her share her bed.

Regina must have taken her stillness to mean that she was asleep, because, in a voice so faint Emma could barely hear it, despite the fact that she was only two feet away, she asked, “Why. Why would you do all this, bring Henry back here, despite what it's costing you, having to share a house, a bed with me. I don't understand.”

Her tone of voice had made it clear to Emma that she wasn't expecting an answer, that she thought Emma was asleep, or she never would have given voice to such thoughts. But the same impulse that had spurred her to sudden action in Granny's refused to let her pretend to be asleep when she had heard the pain in Regina's voice. Emma rolled over to face Regina, and brought her hand over to rest on her shoulder, rotating the other woman to face her, and then stroking up and down her upper arm in the most comforting and reassuring gesture she could think of.

“Because Regina, he's your son too,” Emma said. “And I couldn't just let him think you weren't one of the most important people in his life.”

Regina was clearly on the edge, not having expected Emma to actually answer her question and not being prepared for such emotional displays at the best of times, let alone at this vulnerable hour, but Emma forged on.

“Besides,” Emma continued, “I remembered your promise, and I wanted to repay your gift. Only good memories, remember?”

Emma rolled back over, giving Regina as much privacy as she could, to give her a chance to show any emotion she couldn't in front of other people.

“Besides,” Emma said, “It's not actually costing me that much. Having to share a bed with you isn't a huge sacrifice.”

And with that final riposte, she finally was able to let sleep overtake her.

 

\---

 

Emma wasn't sure what would be waiting for her back at Regina's house, but she was still heading over. Watching Regina storm off from the party because Marian had turned out to be Robin's wife had dropped Emma's stomach. There had been plenty of times in her life that she had shied away from unpleasant conversations, but this one couldn't wait.

When she got there, the lights were off, and the house was still. Emma used her key to get in and swept through the house on silent feet, a skill she had honed through long years of being on both sides of the law. There was no signs of life until she reached the upstairs hallway, and could hear muffled sobbing from beyond the open door of the master bedroom.

Emma braced herself as she entered the bedroom and traced the sound to the bathroom, where the only sliver of light in the house cut across under the door. She knocked twice and then immediately twisted the knob, giving Regina just enough time to brace herself for her presence, but not enough to order her away.

"Hey," Emma said as she shut the door behind her, not knowing how else to start the conversation. She took in Regina's appearance, curled into a ball in the corner, and then dropped to a crouch as well; normally the high ground was a help when dealing with Regina, but this time it would only make it worse.

Regina glared daggers at her, but hadn't gone for her magic to hurt Emma, or teleport away. Yet.

"I'm sorry," Emma stated, as definitively and flatly as she could. "There's a reason for why I did what I did, of course, and I might even do it again if I had to, but that's not important. I hurt you, again, and this time it hurt me too, because this may be the first time I wasn't intentionally trying to hurt you when I did. I'm just ... I'm sorry, Regina."

Regina finally managed to gather some words. "Really, then?" She asked, the anger in her voice the only thing keeping it from breaking. "Tell me. Tell me why you did it. Tell me why you ruined my happiness."

"You knew that Zelena managed to open the time portal, right?" Emma asked, taking a moment to gather her thoughts as Regina nodded. "We wound up back in the Enchanted Forest, the day my parents met. I don't know if that's when Zelena was trying to go to, or if it was just because that day was on my mind after hearing everyone talking about it in the diner, but we appeared right behind Snow as she was about to steal the ring, and our popping in out of nowhere scared her off before she could grab it. After that, we had to find a way to get them back together, and the only person we could think of who could help us was Rumplestiltskin. With his help, we managed to talk Snow into stealing Charming's ring at Midas' ball - do you remember that night? It never happened originally, or at least Snow wasn't there in the original timeline."

Emma finally paused to take a breath. She had been so desperate to communicate her story to Regina, she had started rambling. Taking a moment to center herself, she began talking again.

"After that, we were just playing catch up, trying to get the timeline back to where it was originally. The whole confrontation between you and Snow in your castle was never supposed to happen, but once we were there, I couldn't just leave Marian in the dungeon. I know you, well, you now wouldn't want to kill her, and - I just know you regret a lot of the things you did back then, and I just didn't want you to have more blood on your hands than you needed to. I didn't know she was Robin's wife when I saved her, I didn't even know her name when I did. I wasn't trying to save her for Robin, I was trying to save her for herself. And, well, for you also."

Regina looked startled at the confession, and Emma took the opportunity to press harder.

"Anyway, if you remember that night, then you probably remember me as well - Princess Leia?" Emma asked, and Regina actually groaned as she clearly recalled what happened. "Yeah, you arrested me. In your defense, or, well, past you's defense, I was acting like she was you. Or, well, present you. We've gotten a lot closer, especially in the last few weeks since the second curse, and I was treating her like I would you. She didn't like that I was so presumptuous to act as if I knew her."

Emma stopped talking at that, and let the silence stretch as both women consider what she had just said. "You know, you're wrong about one thing. You said before that I ruined your happiness, but that's just not true. You've still got Henry, and you've still got me. You're not gonna lose us, not now, and not ever. I may have ruined your opportunity to be with Robin, and I am so truly sorry for that, really I am, but he's not your happy ending. You still have that. You still have me. If I could give you the love you need, I would, but all I can do is be here for you, and I will."

Regina looked shocked at that unexpected declaration and said, "You don't mean that. You're with Hook."

Emma was a little surprise that that was her take away from her speech, but responded gamely. "I'm over thirty now, Regina. I've got a kid who I had as a teenager, and is now a teenager himself. I was raised as an orphan and in foster homes for my entire childhood, and finally got reunited with my parents. My parents, who are my age, and have a newborn son, which means that my brother is younger than my son and is also now named after my ex. And all that isn't even getting into the fact that magic is real and the whole Savior business. I am just - I'm done with the drama. I was happy dating around and keeping things casual until recently, but I want to settle down and be happy. It took moving in with my kid's other mother, and breakfasts and dinners and sitting around the fireplace and watching TV all together for me to finally want it, but I just want to finally have a family. And I like the family we made for ourselves, but you were just starting things with Robin, and -"

If Regina was shocked a moment ago, it's nothing compared to how Emma felt when the other woman launched herself across the tiny room and started kissing her. It wasn't what she had been expecting when she left the party to come over here earlier in the night, not even how she thought this night would go a minute ago when she started that latest monologue, but now that it was happening, Emma found she wasn't upset about it. She decided to stop analyzing things at that point and leaned into the kiss, her hands finding their way to Regina's waist, lifting the other woman slightly to readjust her feet underneath her. She shifted back to place more of her weight against the wall and slid down as Regina's hands firmly grasped her head.

"So, are you still thinking about Hook?" Regina asked, Emma's eyes fluttering open to see her staring back at her from only inches away.

"Honestly, yes," Emma said. She continued before Regina had a chance to stiffen under her, as Emma just knew she would, "I'm thinking it's going to be a very awkward conversation I have to have with him tomorrow. And I think I've got room for one last bit of drama before I settle down."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Sweet n Sour" by Waterbed.


End file.
